Category Archives: Books

Noctropolis Clue Book

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It’s not clear how much involvement with the game Origin had but the Noctropolis clue book was definitely published by them in 1994. I picked this cluebook to look at tonight because I figured there wouldn’t be much content and I’d rattle it off quickly. There was considerably more than I was expecting though.

It’s a fairly lengthy 96 pages, which start out with the usual sections to help you through the game, such as questions and answers for each location, a list of items and where to get them and a full step by step walkthrough. The latter 60 pages however are an illustrated tour of Noctropolis with screenshots of every game location (with interactive hotspots shown), and some sort of clipping below relevant to it. These clippings are written as though they have been pulled from newspapers and other documents. To give a few examples, there is an advert for your bookstore at the start of the game, the police file on Stiletto and the transcript of an interview between Dr. Macabre and his psychologist.

All of the clippings are well written and exactly the sort of thing I’d like to have seen in the original documentation. None of them give anything in particular about the game away but they would have set the scene very nicely and take a tongue-in-cheek approach to the world of Noctropolis. I wonder if maybe these are from some extra documentation originally intended to ship with the game and it got pulled. It’s certainly the sort of content that I’d have expected to see in a mock newspaper or something similar that you saw in some games around that time.

The book ends with the transcript of Darksheer’s farewell speech to the city where he talks about his craving for the light. This might have made the ending even more obvious I suppose but I’m sure anyone who plays the game could see it coming a mile off. As for the screenshots, I used these a bit during the game as the interface gave no indication on which areas of the screen you could interact with so it saved plenty of pixel hunting. They certainly made it more fun for me, without actually giving away puzzles entirely.

In short there is nothing earth shattering in this book but it did add some value to the game. I wouldn’t have needed the screenshots with hot spots if the games interface had been better, and most of the rest of the content would have been more relevant if I could have read it before I played the game. Most of this arguably should have been included with the game in the first place but I would guess that costs needed to be kept down, and I did get the comic book included so I shouldn’t complain.

Wing Commander – Pilgrim Stars

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This is the final Wing Commander novel. It was published in 1999 by Harper Entertainment and written once again by Peter Telep. It follows on straight from the end of the previous book so is based on the movie universe rather than the game. However, in the acknowledgements at the start Telep includes the Wing Commander CIC so it looks like Wing Commander fans had some influence as well.  There was supposed to be a further book in the series after this but it was never published.

The story concerns a renegade Confed carrier called the Olympus which has been taken over by Pilgrims within Confed. This ship has the ability to create gravitational wells which suck any other ships in the vicinity into them. Since the ship is full of Pilgrims it can however use the well to jump to another system and escape. This potentially gives the ship the ability to destroy planets whilst also making it able to jump around without needing jump points. Both the Kilrathi and Confed want to stop and if possible capture the ship for their own uses. The Tiger Claw is the nearest to the scene and tracks the ship down only for it to use its well to escape. Blair and Taggart have in the meanwhile used their Pilgrim status to board the ship in an attempt to reason with its leader Amity. Maniac is taken along for the ride when he trashes his fighter.

Aside from the main plot, there are all sorts of relationships covered in this novel. Blair is still infatuated with Angel who is trying to avoid becoming close to anyone, although he is later distracted by his Pilgrim soul mate. Maniac finds another like-minded pilot to Forbes, but has to wait as she thinks he hasn’t gotten over Forbes. He eventually opts to become a one woman man. Paladin’s has the hardest time as his own Pilgrim soul mate is the one captaining the rogue ship.

The Pilgrim abilities go much further in this novel than the movie and some form of explanation is given for them. Apparently Blair’s abilities come from being able to read “scripts” left behind by previous Pilgrims who have already navigated all of space. Blair has other abilities similar to telekinesis which he discovers later on, from a woman who is apparently paired to him because of these abilities but is one of the enemy serving on the Olympus. This pairing means that each of them know the others thoughts to some extents.

To get back to the story, Blair, Maniac and Paladin end up on the Olympus, with Blair and Maniac spending weeks in the brig while Paladin attempts to talk round his ex to his side although it’s never quite clear whose side Paladin is on at this point.  Tolwyn in the meanwhile has taken the extreme action of getting all Pilgrims into camps and enforcing no fly zones in all their space. This results in Pilgrims starving to death and he sends an ultimatum that he will kill them all if Amity does not surrender by a certain date. Her response is to step up the attack on Earth but she is interrupted by an attack from the Kilrathi. Blair and other Pilgrims are forced to use their telekinesis to kill the Kilrathi from range but this leaves them all needing weeks of recovery. In the meanwhile, the Kilrathi regroup and attack again only for the Olympus to escape and jump straight into an ambush from the Tiger Claw. Paladin sabotages the jump drive and creates a gravity well too near to the ship allegedly to destroy it. Most of the Pilgrims flee including Maniac and Blair before they get sucked in. In the chaos Paladin is left behind but then helps the ship to jump the well and escape with Amity, leaving the threat still there for the next novel.

This book was quite a departure from the rest of series really, in both content and writing style. I much prefer Telep’s prose to anything from the earlier novels. The plot is far more complex with plenty of character development and enough originality to keep you guessing as to whats coming. I could summarise most of the other books in a few sentences and not leave out anything significant. Here I’ve done several paragraphs and missed out loads. On the other hand, I didn’t like the whole thing with Pilgrims in the movie and this takes it further still. By the end of the book Blair is able to step out of his body at will to fight marines with his mind. I like to see sci-fi and fantasy kept apart as a rule. This novel is faithful enough to the movie but it does seem to be a long way away from the Wing Commander I grew up with.

I think you could look at this book as the best of the series or the worst depending on how much resemblance you expect to Wing Commander.  As a fan of the WC games, I don’t especially like where the story was going and I’m not entirely sorry that the series ended here. Further novels would just have gone further and further from the games I expect. However, in its own right this was the best WC novel by some margin and I really enjoyed it. It’s a pity that Telep didn’t get a chance to do some of the earlier books as far as I’m concerned. I think he could have done a good job with them as he worked wonders from the starting point of the WC movie.

Peter Telep also wrote a trilogy of Descent novels which I’d be curious about as those games really didn’t have much plot to start from. I’ve far too many other books to be getting on with, to go looking for more anyway. I’ve only got 5 Origin novels left to read, but there is a huge stack of clue books left to be getting on with. I think I’ll pick off some of the smaller ones next and start getting the list down.

Quest For Clues – Book Of Orbs & Manual Of Swords

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I figured I’d get the last two Quest for Clues books out of the way. I was planning on doing a post for every Origin book but I’ve regretted not putting all the Quest For Clues books in one post ever since I moved onto the second volume. I really don’t have a lot to say about them and I said it all in the first post so I’ll keep this short.

The books undergo a name change this time and were both published in 1992 by Origin. First off we get the Book of Orbs. This contains 20 solutions to various games as shown on the back cover below.

Second is the Manual Of Swords containing another 20 solutions. The books are a smaller format than the first four and also thinner. There were as many solutions in any of the other books as both these two put together but I don’t know if the price went down to reflect this. The solutions take the same format as ever, with simple maps and brief walkthroughs submitted by QuestBusters guild members.

Just as the Manual of Swords provides solutions and guidance for adventurers seeking to overcome challenges, learning how to sharpen a katana, whether a full-sized blade or a finely crafted Katana, is an essential skill for sword enthusiasts. Much like the brief walkthroughs and maps provided by QuestBusters guild members, understanding the dos and don’ts of Japanese sword sharpening allows us to maintain the katana’s sharpness and integrity. Exploring the art of katana sharpening unveils a delicate balance between technique, patience, and precision, ensuring that the blade retains its keen edge. you can visit the website Mini Katana to learn more. The insightful tips and advice shared in the guide illuminate the proper methods and tools required to achieve optimal sharpness while preserving the katana’s historical significance and beauty. With this knowledge in hand, we can embark on our own journey of honing our katana, appreciating the artistry involved and connecting with the timeless traditions that have shaped the world of Japanese swords.

I was starting to get walkthroughs and tips from magazines around the time this was published but this whole series still potentially represented value for money as magazines would often spread solutions over several issues.  The Quest For Clues series was certainly great when I needed help playing through all of Origin’s games but it’s surprising that they included solutions for games like the Ultima’s since you would think it would hurt sales of the official clue books.

As collectibles these don’t have a lot going for them, whereas most of the official cluebooks are full of all sorts of bits and pieces of background information making them more worthwhile. Unless you are trying to buy up everything Origin then there isn’t much reason to own them. Speaking of which, I’ve managed to get hold of System Shock – ICE Breaker which is the only clue book I was missing. I’d quite like to get the Cybermage comic books if I ever see them but those and Caverns Of Callisto are about the only Origin bits and pieces that I’m still looking for. I wouldn’t say no to a copy of Akalabeth either but judging by a recent Ebay auction I’ve about as much chance of getting my hands on one of Richard Garriott’s spare copies as buying one online.

Wing Commander Novel

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This is the eighth Wing Commander novel. It was written by Peter Telep and published by Harper in 1999. This is a new author from the previous novels and based on the movie rather than the game. I can’t say too many bad things about the movie so this wasn’t a book I was especially looking forward to. My main hope going into this was that it couldn’t be any worse than the film. It’s quite a short book which can be read in not all that much longer than it takes to watch the film and there are 8 pages of colour photos from the movie in the middle of the book.

I won’t describe the plot here since I’ve been through it all before and the book sticks extremely closely to the movie. There is a little more detail with an occasional glimpse of things from the Kilrathi point of view. In the movie, they are fairly anonymous but here we get to hear a few discussions on battle tactics and the like. Their character is very close to that in the earlier novels with the same honour systems although they have dropped the annoying habit of describing everything in terms of the number 8. I.e. eight eights of fighters etc. This was getting old after 7 novels and it was hokey in the first place.

Another change from the movie is that Blair has a personal computer implanted into his wrist, complete with a holographic representation of the Wizard Merlin who pops up at times offering advice. This character is obviously there for comic relief and could have been the Jar Jar Binks of the movie had he been included. Thankfully, his use is sparing in the book so he just seems out of place rather than irritating.

Finally, there is a subplot with Pilgrim traitors within Confed and indeed Captain Sansky himself turns out to be working with the Kilrathi. He is exposed through Blair’s actions and commits suicide before anyone can get to him leaving Gerard to take over. The book even suggests that a war with the Pilgrims is about to break out again in its epilogue. I’ll presumably find out more about that in Pilgrim Stars when I get around to reading it.

As for the writing style, Telep proves to have some skill given what he has to work with. We are still stuck with the same storyline complete with the mystical Pilgrim element but it comes across far better with the extra exposition. Some of the scenes from the film actually work better in this form, such as Blair jumping through the gravity well which is more about what is going on in his mind than anything you would be able to see on screen. There is also some evidence of the detail that was in the Confederation Handbook I looked at a few months back being used for background detail giving it more of a sci-fi vibe. 

Compared to the other Wing Commander novels, the characters in this were far more rounded and realistic and it was less childish as a result. Without the awful casting choices to cope with I actually had some interest in what happened to the main protagonists and I’m shocked to say that this book was actually quite good. My low expectations probably helped here but maybe there actually was a half decent film in the script if some different decisions had been made. It still doesn’t feel like Wing Commander but if you ever get the urge to watch the movie, I’d strongly recommend reading the book instead.

Speaking of which, there are actually two versions of the book. There is the one I’ve read and the “Junior Novelisation” which I’ve also got. Apart from it being a different shape and size, I’m unsure of the difference but I’ll have a quick look at it at some point. I’m assuming it’s a child friendly version of the book I’ve just read but there was nothing much in this that I’d consider particularly adult.

Wing Commander – False Colors

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This is the final book in the original series of Wing Commander novels and was published in 1999 by Baen. Despite what it says on the cover, it was written by William Forstchen and Andrew Keith. What Mr. Keith thought of them getting his name wrong on the cover I have no idea, but it doesn’t say much for quality control. At least they got his name right on the inside pages.

The plot involves all the same characters that have been in the earlier books, i.e. Bear, both Tolwyns, Kruger (the border world president), Sparks, Doomsday, etc… It seems somewhat far-fetched that they always end up involved in all these things but it does add continuity.

The story is set after Wing Commander 3 but before number 4. A Kilrathi supercarrier is involved in a battle near a brown dwarf star. It wins the combat but with no shields all the crew receive a lethal dose of radiation, which also stops the ship from self destructing. The ship is later discovered by the border worlds and Tolwyn, Bear and all the rest are sent out to repair it. The reason the border worlds need the ship is to fight off a Kilrathi lord who is trying to seize territory and take over where Thrakhath left off. Confed is of course ignoring the problem so the border worlds buy up decommissioned ships and recruit personnel where they can. 2/3’s of the way through the book, we discover that a Kilrathi dreadnought is being prepped to attack the border worlds and this ship is so massive it would threaten Earth itself. The new force goes on a suicide mission to destroy it, narrowly escaping thanks to Kruger and his fleet showing up at the last moment.

There is an underlying element of conspiracy in this novel also. We learn that there is a group of senior military figures who plan to overthrow the Terran government. They had planned to do this during the Kilrathi war which was why Tolwyn rushed the Behemoth project in an attempt to end the war before this happened. This group is also trying to engineer the new war so that they can take over with public support when the current government is made to look inept. It’s clear that Tolwyn himself is even scheming further than this and already has his GE project in mind. He has a much more complex character here and it would have been interesting to see where this went in later novels if there had been any. I gather this was to be the first in a new trilogy which never happened due to the death of Andrew Keith, although I expect the Wing Commander movie might not have helped either.

The book starts out fairly well but I have to say that the middle sections of the story dragged badly. It’s 50% longer than anything else in the series but there wasn’t quite enough extra content to justify it and it could have done with some more editing. The chapter where they go into the detail of repairing each section of the supercarrier one by one was excruciatingly tedious. I’m glad to say that it picked up again after this and overall the book wasn’t a bad effort. There was a bit of intrigue to the plot and it was a definite step in the right direction. It may have been intended as the start of a trilogy but it sits fine on its own and does bridge the gap between Wing Commander 3 and 4.

It does seem to me that this series of novels hit its high points in the first couple of books. I think it’s partly a lack of ideas since then.  There were plenty of familiar scenes in this and the last section of the book played out just like End Run with a few of the characters swapping places. I’ve enjoyed all of the books to some extent but I’m definitely ready for something new at this point.